The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The show stars Will "The Fresh Prince" Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart teenager from West Philadelphia, sent to move in with his wealthy aunt and uncle in their Bel Air mansion after getting into a fight in his hometown. In the series, his lifestyle clashes with the lifestyle of his relatives in Bel Air; the series aired 148 episodes. The theme song and opening sequence set the premise of the show. Will Smith is a street-smart teenager, West Philadelphia "born and raised". While playing street basketball, Will misses a shot and the ball hits a group of people, causing a confrontation that frightens his mother, who sends him to live with his wealthy aunt and uncle in the opulent neighborhood of Bel Air, Los Angeles. Will's working-class background ends up clashing in various humorous ways with the upper class world of the Banks family – Will's uncle Phil and aunt Vivian and their children, Will's cousins: Hilary and Ashley.
The premise is loosely based on the real-life story of the show's producer Benny Medina. In 1990, music manager Benny Medina, along with his business partner, real estate mogul Jeff Pollack, decided to market a TV story based on Medina's life. Medina had grown up poor in East Los Angeles but his life changed when he befriended a rich white teenager, whose family lived in Beverly Hills and allowed Medina to live with them. Medina decided to use this part of his life as the main focus of the show. However, given that by a black character living with a white family was a concept, done multiple times on TV, Medina decided to change the rich white family to a rich black family. "That way we could explore black-on-black prejudice as well as black class differences", Medina said in an interview for Ebony magazine. Medina pitched the idea to Quincy Jones. Jones arranged a meeting with NBC chief Brandon Tartikoff. Will Smith was well known by as his music career as The Fresh Prince had put him on the mainstream radar, but he had come into debt after failing to pay taxes.
At the suggestion of his then-girlfriend, Smith went to a taping of The Arsenio Hall Show where he met Medina by chance. Medina pitched the idea to Smith. Medina invited Smith to meet Jones at a party that Jones was throwing at his house in December of 1989. There, Jones handed Smith a script for a failed Morris Day pilot that he had produced and challenged Smith to audition for Tartikoff on the spot. Smith did so, the first contract for the show was drawn up that night in a limo outside. Three months the pilot was shot; the pilot episode began taping on May 1, 1990. Season 1 first aired in September 1990, ended in May 1991; the series finale was taped on Thursday, March 21, 1996, aired on May 20, 1996. The theme song "Yo Home to Bel Air" was written and performed by Smith under his stage name, The Fresh Prince; the music was composed by Quincy Jones, credited with Smith at the end of each episode. The music used to bridge scenes together during the show is based on a similar chord structure. During the fall 1991–1992 season, NBC gained two hit television shows to anchor their Monday night lineup.
To gain popularity between the two shows, Will Smith appeared in the Blossom episode "I'm with the Band" as himself under his rap stage name, The Fresh Prince. That same season, Karyn Parsons appeared in the Blossom episode "Wake Up Little Suzy" as Hilary Banks. Parsons appeared in the Patti LaBelle sitcom Out All Night as Hilary. In the House and Fresh Prince were both executive-produced by Winifred Hervey, David Salzman and Quincy Jones. During the second season's first episode, Alfonso Ribeiro and Tatyana Ali appeared as their Fresh Prince characters in the crossover episode "Dog Catchers"; that season, James Avery appeared as a mediator in the episode "Love on a One-Way Street". In the Season 4 episode "My Pest Friend's Wedding", James Avery and Daphne Maxwell Reid guest starred as Dr. Maxwell Stanton's parents. Both Avery and Reid portrayed the parents of Ribeiro's Fresh Prince character. Joseph Marcell, who played the wisecracking Geoffrey Butler on Fresh Prince, appeared as an officiating minister in the same episode.
The show is notable for having a heavy celebrity guest presence with more than 40 celebrities guest starring throughout the series. Seasons 1 and 4 had the highest celebrity participation with 10 guest stars each; the series was produced by NBC Productions in association with the Stuffed Dog Company and Quincy Jones Entertainment. After the show was released to syndication in 1994, the series was distributed by Warner Bros. Television, which continues to distribute the show worldwide; the series aired reruns on WGN America, TBS, Nick at Nite, Disney XD, ABC Family, BET, Centric, MTV and VH1. Warner Home Video has released the complete series, seasons 1 to 6, on DVD in Region 1. Seasons 1 to 4 have been released in Regions 2 and 4. Seasons 5 to 6 have been released in Region 2 in Germany, in the complete series boxset in the United Kingdom. On August 13, 2015, it was reported that a reboot of the show was in development by Overbrook Entertainment, with Will Smith serving as a producer. In August 2016, during a promotional interview with the E! television network, for his upcoming film Suicide Squad, Smith denied that a reboot was in develo
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. is an American record producer, musician and film producer. His career spans six decades in the entertainment industry with a record 80 Grammy Award nominations, 28 Grammys, a Grammy Legend Award in 1992. Jones came to prominence in the 1950s as a jazz arranger and conductor, before moving on to work in pop music and film scores. In 1969, Jones and his songwriting partner Bob Russell became the first African-Americans to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, for "The Eyes of Love" from the film Banning. Jones was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for his work on the 1967 film In Cold Blood, making him the first African-American to be nominated twice in the same year. In 1971, he became the first African-American to be the musical director and conductor of the Academy Awards ceremony. In 1995, he was the first African-American to receive the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, he has tied with sound designer Willie D. Burton as the second most Oscar-nominated African-American, with seven nominations each.
Jones was the producer, with Michael Jackson, of Jackson's albums Off the Wall and Bad, as well as the producer and conductor of the 1985 charity song "We Are the World", which raised funds for victims of famine in Ethiopia. In 2013, Jones was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as the winner, alongside Lou Adler, of the Ahmet Ertegun Award, he was named one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century by Time magazine. Quincy Delight Jones Jr. was born on the South Side of Chicago on March 14, 1933, the son of Sarah Frances, a bank officer and apartment complex manager, Quincy Delight Jones Sr. a semi-professional baseball player and carpenter from Kentucky. Jones' paternal grandmother was an ex-slave in Louisville, Jones would discover that his paternal grandfather was Welsh. With the help of the author Alex Haley in 1972 and Mormon researchers in Salt Lake City, Jones discovered that his mother's ancestors included James Lanier, a relative of poet Sidney Lanier. Jones said, "He had a baby with my great-grandmother, my grandmother was born there.
We traced this all the way back to the Laniers, the same family as Tennessee Williams." Learning that the Lanier immigrant ancestors were French Huguenots who had court musicians among their ancestors, Jones attributed some of his musicianship to them. For the 2006 PBS television program African American Lives, Jones had his DNA tested, genealogists researched his family history again, his DNA revealed he is African but is 34% European in ancestry, on both sides of his family. Research showed that he has English, French and Welsh ancestry through his father, his mother's side is of West and Central African descent the Tikar people of Cameroon. His mother had European ancestry, such as Lanier male ancestors who fought for the Confederacy, making him eligible for Sons of Confederate Veterans. Among his ancestors is Betty Washington Lewis, a sister of president George Washington. Jones is a direct descendant of Edward I of England, whose ancestors included French, Polish and Swiss nobility. Jones' family moved to Chicago as part of the Great Migration.
Jones had a younger brother, who became an engineer for the Seattle television station KOMO-TV and died in 1998. Jones was introduced to music by his mother, who always sang religious songs, by his next-door neighbor, Lucy Jackson; when Jones was five or six, Jackson played stride piano next door, he would listen through the walls. Lucy recalled; when Jones was young, his mother suffered from a schizophrenic breakdown and was admitted to a mental institution. His father divorced his mother and married Elvera Jones, who had three children of her own named Waymond and Katherine. Elvera and Quincy Sr. had three children together: Jeanette and future U. S. District Judge Richard. In 1943, Jones and his family moved to Bremerton, where his father got a wartime job at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. After the war, the family moved to Seattle. In high school, he developed his skills as a arranger, his classmates included Charles Taylor, who played saxophone and whose mother, Evelyn Bundy, was one of Seattle's first society jazz band leaders.
Jones and Taylor began playing music together, at the age of 14 they played with a National Reserve band. Jones has said he got much more experience with music growing up in a smaller city because he otherwise would have faced too much competition. At age 14, Jones introduced himself to 16-year-old Ray Charles after watching him play at the Black Elks Club. Jones cites Charles as an early inspiration for his own music career, noting that Charles overcame a disability to achieve his musical goals, he has credited his father's sturdy work ethic with giving him the means to proceed and his loving strength with holding the family together. Jones has said his father had a rhyming motto: "Once a task is just begun, never leave until it's done. Be the labor great or small, do it well or not at all." In 1951, Jones earned a scholarship to Seattle University, where a young Clint Eastwood—also a music major—watched him play in the college band. After one semester, Jones transferred to what is now the Berklee College of Music in Boston on another scholarship.
While studying at Berklee, he played at Izzy Ort's Bar & Grille with Bunny Campbell and Preston Sandiford, whom he cited as important musical influences. He left his studies after receiving an offer to tour as a trumpeter, p
Mary J. Blige
Mary Jane Blige is an American singer and actress. She started her career as a backing singer on Uptown Records in 1989, she has released 13 studio albums. Blige has sold over 80 million records, has won nine Grammy Awards, four American Music Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards and has received three Golden Globe Award nominations, including one for her supporting role in the film Mudbound and another for its second original song "Mighty River" for Mudbound. In 1992, Blige released her first album, What's the 411?. Her 1994 album My Life is among Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Time magazine's All-Time 100 Albums, she received a Legends Award at the World Music Awards in 2006, the Voice of Music Award from ASCAP in 2007. As of 2018, Blige has sold 80 million records worldwide. Billboard ranked Blige as the most successful female R&B/Hip-Hop artist of the past 25 years. In 2017, Billboard magazine named her 2006 song "Be Without You" as the most successful R&B/Hip-Hop song of all time, as it spent an unparalleled 15 weeks atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and over 75 weeks on the chart.
In 2011, VH1 ranked Blige as the 80th greatest artist of all time. Ln 2012, VH1 ranked Blige at number 9 in "The 100 Greatest Women in Music" list. Blige was born on January 11, 1971 in New York City, in the borough of The Bronx, but grew up in Savannah, Georgia, she and her family moved back to New York and resided in the Schlobohm Housing Projects, located in Yonkers, New York. She was born to mother Cora, a nurse, father Thomas Blige, a Jazz musician, she is the second of three children, she has an older sister LaTonya Blige-DaCosta, brother, Bruce Miller. The family subsisted on her mother's earnings as a nurse after her father left the family in the mid-1970s, the former an alcoholic and the latter a Vietnam War veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Blige spent her early years in Richmond Hill, where she sang in a Pentecostal church. At the age of five, she was molested by a family friend, as a teenager she endured years of sexual harassment from peers of both sexes, she taught herself boxing in an effort to defend and protect herself.
She would turn to alcohol and promiscuous sex to try and numb the pain. Blige moved to Schlobohm Houses in Yonkers, New York north of New York City, where she lived with her mother and older sister. Blige dropped out of high school in her junior year. Pursuing a musical career, Blige spent a short time in a Yonkers band named Pride with band drummer Eddie D'Aprile. In early 1988, she recorded an impromptu cover of Anita Baker's "Caught Up in the Rapture" at a recording booth in the Galleria Mall in White Plains, New York, her mother's boyfriend at the time played the cassette for Jeff Redd, a recording artist and A&R runner for Uptown Records. Redd sent it to the CEO of the label, Andre Harrell. Harrell met with Blige and in 1989 she was signed to the label as a backup vocalist for artists such as Father MC, becoming the company's youngest and first female artist. After being signed to Uptown, Blige began working with record producer Sean Combs known as Puff Daddy, he produced a majority of the album.
The title, What's the 411?, derived from Blige's past occupation as a 4-1-1 operator. "What's the 411" established Blige as a dynamic storyteller whose performances of love narrative drew upon both her musical influences and her lived experiences as a hip-hop-generation woman. The music was described as "revelatory on a frequent basis". Blige was noted for having a "tough girl persona and streetwise lyrics". On July 28, 1992, Uptown/MCA Records released What's the 411?, to positive reviews from critics. What's the 411? Peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 and topped the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, it peaked at number 53 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified three times Platinum by the RIAA. According to Entertainment Weekly's Dave DiMartino, with the record's commercial success and Blige's "powerful, soulful voice and hip-hop attitude", she "solidly connected with an audience that has never seen a woman do new jack swing but loves it just the same". According to Dave McAleer, Blige became the most successful new female R&B artist of 1992 in the United States.
What's the 411? Earned her two Soul Train Music Awards in 1993: Best New R&B Artist and Best R&B Album, Female, it was voted the year's 30th best album in the Pazz & Jop—an annual poll of American critics nationwide, published by The Village Voice. By August 2010, the album had sold 3,318,000 copies in the US. What's the 411? has since been viewed by critics as one of the 1990s' most important records. Blige's combination of vocals over a hip hop beat proved influential in contemporary R&B. With the album, she was dubbed the reigning "Queen of Hip Hop Soul" The album's success spun off What's the 411? Remix, a remix album released in December, used to extend the life of the What's the 411? singles on the radio into 1994, as Blige recorded her follow-up album. With combined sales of more than 5 million albums and singles from her debut album, Blige was the best selling female artist on the Uptown label. Following the success of her debut album and a remixed version in 1993, Blige went into the recording studio in the winter of 1993 to record her second album, My Life.
The album was a breakthrough for Blige, who at this point was in a clinical depression
MC Hammer
Stanley Kirk Burrell, better known by his stage name MC Hammer, is an American hip hop recording artist, record producer and entrepreneur. He had his greatest commercial success and popularity until the early 1990s. Remembered for his rapid rise to fame, Hammer is known for hit records, flashy dance movements and eponymous Hammer pants. A multi-award winner, M. C. Hammer is considered a "forefather/pioneer" and innovator of pop rap, is the first hip hop artist to achieve diamond status for an album. BET ranked Hammer as the #7 "Best Dancer Of All Time". Vibe's "The Best Rapper Ever Tournament" declared him the 17th favorite of all-time during the first round. Burrell became a preacher during the late 1990s with a Christian ministry program on TBN called M. C. Hammer and Friends. Additionally, he starred in a Saturday-morning cartoon called Hammerman in 1991 and was executive producer of his own reality show called Hammertime which aired on the A&E Network during the summer of 2009. Hammer was a television show host and dance judge on Dance Fever in 2003, was co-creator of a dance website called DanceJam.com, is a record label CEO while still performing concerts at music venues and assisting with other social media and outreach functions.
Prior to becoming ordained, Hammer signed with Suge Knight's Death Row Records by 1995. Throughout his career, Hammer has managed his own recording business; as a result, he has created and produced his own acts including Oaktown's 3.5.7, Special Generation, Analise, DRS, B Angie B, Wee Wee. A part of additional record labels, he has associated and recorded with VMF, Tupac Shakur, Teddy Riley, Felton Pilate, Tha Dogg Pound, The Whole 9, The Hines Brother, Deion Sanders, Big Daddy Kane, BeBe & CeCe Winans and Jon Gibson. In 1992, Doug E. Fresh was signed to M. C. Hammer's Bust. Stanley Kirk Burrell was born on March 1962 in Oakland, California, his father was a professional poker player and gambling casino manager, as well as warehouse supervisor. He grew up poor with eight siblings in a small apartment in East Oakland, he recalled. The Burrells would frequent thoroughbred horse races becoming owners and winners of several graded stakes. In the Oakland Coliseum parking lot the young Burrell would sell stray baseballs and dance accompanied by a beatboxer.
Oakland A's team owner Charles O. Finley saw the 11-year-old doing splits and hired him as a clubhouse assistant and batboy as a result of his energy and flair. Burrell served as a "batboy" with the team from 1973 to 1980. In 2010, Hammer discussed his lifelong involvement with athletes on ESPN's First Take as well as explained that his brother Louis Burrell Jr. was the batboy while his job was to take calls and do "play-by-plays" for the A's absentee owner during every summer game. The colorful Finley, who lived in Chicago, used the child as his "eyes and ears." Reggie Jackson, in describing Burrell's role for Finley, took credit for his nickname: Hell, our chief executive, the guy that ran our team, uh, that communicated Charlie Finley, the top man there, was a 13-year old kid. I nicknamed him "Hammer,". Team players, including Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Pedro Garcia dubbed Burrell "Little Hammer" due to his resemblance to Aaron. Ron Bergman, at the time an Oakland Tribune writer who covered the A's, recalled that: He was an informant in the clubhouse, an informant for Charlie, he got the nickname "Pipeline."
According to Hammer: Charlie said, "I'm getting you a new hat. I don't want you to have a hat. I'm getting you a hat that says'Ex VP,' that says'Executive Vice President.' You're running the joint around here."... Every time I come down to the clubhouse, you know, Rollie would yell out "Oh, everybody be quiet! Here comes Pipeline!" He acquired the nickname "M. C." for being a "Master of Ceremonies" which he used when he began performing at various clubs while on the road with the A's, in the military. Hammer, who played second base in high school, dreamed of being a professional baseball player but did not make the final cut at a San Francisco Giants tryout. However, he has been a participant/player in the annual Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game wearing an A's cap to represent Oakland. Burrell went on to graduate from high school in Oakland and took undergraduate classes in communications. Discouraged by his studies at a local college and failing to win a place in a professional baseball organization, Hammer considered the drug trade.
Instead he joined the United States Navy for three years, serving with PATRON FOUR SEVEN of NAS Moffett Field in Mountain View, CA as a Petty Officer Third Class Aviation Store Keeper until his honorable discharge. Before Hammer's successful music career and his "rags-to-riches-to-rags-and-back saga", Burrell formed a Christian rap music group with CCM's Jon Gibson called Holy Ghost Boys; some songs produced were called "Word" and "B-Boy Chill". "The Wall", featuring Burrell, was released on Gibson's album Change of Heart. This was Contemporary Christian music's
Johnny Gill
Johnny Gill Jr. known as J. G. J. Skillz and Johnny G, is actor. Gill is the sixth and final member of the R&B/pop group New Edition, was a member of the supergroup called LSG, with Gerald Levert and Keith Sweat. Gill was born on May 22, 1966 in Washington, D. C. the son of Johnny Gill Sr. a Baptist minister, his wife Annie Mae Gill, who had four boys. He started singing at the age of five singing along in church in a family gospel group called Little Johnny and "Wings of Faith" which included his brothers Bobby and Randy Gill. Gill attended Kimball Elementary, Sousa Junior High, Duke Ellington School of the Arts, his career dictated. Gill planned to attend college to pursue a degree in electrical engineering, but decided instead to focus on his singing career. Gill's recording career began in 1982, at the age of 16, when his childhood friend Stacy Lattisaw convinced him to record a demo; this demo fell into the hands of the president of Atlantic Records, his first self-titled debut album was released shortly thereafter on Atlantic subsidiary Cotillion Records.
Gill teamed up with Stacy for the duet album Perfect Combination. A second solo album on Cotillion Records, was released in 1985. Gill began a new chapter in his career in 1987, when he was recruited by Michael Bivins to join New Edition. Bobby Brown had been voted out of the group and Gill was brought in to replace lead singer Ralph Tresvant, rumored at the time to be leaving to pursue a solo career. Gill became the only member of New Edition, not from Boston. With Gill, the oldest member, as one of the lead singers on the album Heart Break, the group developed a more mature, adult sound, hitting the charts with songs such as "Can You Stand The Rain", "N. E. Heartbreak", "If It Isn't Love", the Gill-led "Boys To Men". Continuing his role as a romantic balladeer while emerging as a new jack swing star, he released a second self-titled album in 1990, which included the hits "My, My, My", "Rub You the Right Way", "Fairweather Friend", "Wrap My Body Tight". In 1993, Gill released another solo project, which included the songs "Quiet Time to Play", "A Cute, Love Addiction", the gospel song, "I Know Where I Stand".
In 1996, Gill released Let's Get the Mood Right, which included the title song, "Love In an Elevator", the single "Maybe", considered by many to be one of his greatest vocal performances. In 1996, Johnny recorded the album Home Again. In 1997, he collaborated with Gerald Levert and Keith Sweat to form the supergroup LSG, which yielded the multi- platinum debut album, Levert. Sweat. Gill. and their final album LSG2 in 2003. In 2004 he reunited with New Edition. 16 years after recording his last solo album, Gill returned with Still Winning, which included "In The Mood", "Just The Way You Are", "It Would Be You", "2nd Place". In 2014 Gill left Fontana Records and started his own label, J Skillz Records, on which he released a new album called Game Changer; the album produced several adult R&B radio hits, including the singles "Behind Closed Doors" and the title track, "Game Changer". His New Edition bandmates appear on "This One's For Me And You". Gill will join Fantasia as an opener for Charlie Wilson’s In It To Win It tour, kicking off in February 2017.
Gill has had over 80 film appearances as a singer and actor. He had a cameo role on the TV show Family Matters, sang "You For Me" in the 2006 movie Madea's Family Reunion. Gill starred in the 2009 stage play A Mother's Prayer, which starred Robin Givens, Shirley Murdock, Jermaine Crawford Gill has received two Grammy Award nominations: one with New Edition and one as a solo artist. Gill won two Soul Train Awards for Best R&B/Urban Contemporary Album of the Year – Male, for Best R&B/Urban Contemporary Single in 1991. Grammy Awards New EditionHeart Break Home Again One Love SoloJohnny Gill Chemistry Johnny Gill Provocative Let's Get the Mood Right Still Winning Game Changer Collaboration albumsPerfect Combination Levert. Sweat. Gill LSG2 Johnny Gill Tour 1990-1991 Provocative Tour 1993 21 Nights In Japan: Still Winning Game Changer Tokyo Live Charlie Wilson's In It to Win It Tour Johnny Gill at AllMusic Johnny Gill at VH1
Eddie Levert
Edward Willis "Eddie" Levert is an American singer–songwriter and actor. Levert is best known as the lead vocalist of The O'Jays. Levert was born in Bessemer, but was raised in Canton, where he moved to at the age of 6, he attended church and joined the church choir. As Levert continued singing into his teenage years, he became a recognized voice in the church choir, sang in school plays and performed on a gospel radio show. By the time he reached high school, young Levert knew that singing was what he wanted to do, teaming up with classmates Walter Williams, William Powell, Bobby Massey and Bill Isles to form a group called the Triumphs; the Triumphs played locally in Canton opening for different acts, playing sock hops and just about everything that came up. Their big break came. King Records President Sid Nathan impressed, changed their name to The Mascots and signed them to his label; the Mascots’ popularity grew as their songs could be heard with increased frequency on Cleveland radio stations.
In 1969, The O’Jays signed with Philadelphia International Records where they released hit after hit and were propelled to stardom. The O'Jays signed with EMI-Manhattan Records and Levert and Williams began co-writing and producing their own tracks, their EMI debut album, “Let Me Touch You”, went to number three R&B and boasted "Lovin' You," the number one R&B hit from the summer 1987. In 1984, Eddie saw a proud moment as his sons Gerald and Sean, both still in high school, announced that they wanted to follow their dad's footsteps and make their way in the music industry; the family teamed up with good friend Marc Gordon recording under the group name LeVert - four of their seven albums went platinum. In 1992 Eddie and son Gerald recorded "Baby Hold On to Me" which hit #1 R&B and #37 Pop on the charts. In 2006, upon returning from a successful South African tour with sons Gerald and Sean, tragedy struck as Eddie’s son Gerald unexpectedly lost his life due to interactions between his prescribed medications.
In 2007, Eddie and son Gerald’s album recorded in 2006, "Something To Talk About" was released followed by the publication of the anticipated book "I Got Your Back" co-authored by Eddie and son Gerald. In 2008 tragedy, struck again as Eddie’s son Sean became a fatality of being denied needed prescription medication by government officials in Ohio; that year, while still trying to cope with the loss of both sons and his late son Gerald were presented with "Best Duo or Group" Image Award. In 2009, The O’Jays were awarded BET’s ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ and Eddie Levert was awarded the “Heroes and Legends Pacesetter Award”. On January 29, 2011, The O’Jays received the “Trumpet Lifetime Achievement Award”. Throughout Eddie Levert’s career, The O’Jays have released 10 Gold Albums, with 9 going Platinum and 10 #1 hits. Mr. Levert is performing and touring the world with The O’Jays well as performing as a solo artist. Eddie Levert currently resides in Las Vegas, NV with his wife Raquel and daughter Ryan.
He is the third cousin of NBA Basketball player Caris LeVert. 4 Grammy Nominations 4 American Music Award Nominations 1990 American Music Award for "Best Duo" and "Best Group" NAACP Award for "Outstanding Vocal Group" in 1991 Soul of America Award in 1993 Award for "Lifetime Commitment to the Community for service and beautiful sounds that continue to change the face of music" from 100 Black Men Award for "Supporting the UNCF", given to The O'Jays at the 18th Annual Mayor's Ball in Atlanta, Georgia Soul Train 2002 Quincy Jones Award for "Outstanding Career Achievement in the field of Entertainment" 2003 Wall of Fame Honor in Canton, Ohio 2003 State of Ohio for Outstanding Achievements 2003 Mayors Citation from the City of Canton, Ohio 2003 Honorary Sheriff conferred on The O'Jays by The city of New Orleans 2004 Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon, Pennsylvania 2005 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio 2009 Black Entertainment Television Lifetime Achievement Award 2011 Trumpet Lifetime Achievement Award
